David Mark Kingsley

Dr. David Mark Kingsley is Professor of Developmental Biology at Stanford University School of Medicine and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Kingsley studies the genetic mechanisms that underlie adaptation to changing environments. His laboratory has pioneered the detailed molecular study of morphological, physiological, and behavioral changes in threespine stickleback fish. These studies have mapped the chromosome regions controlling adaptation in natural populations, and identified specific genes that control adaptive responses to new freshwater streams and lake environments created by global warming at the end of the last ice age. He also has identified fundamental genetic pathways that create cartilage, bone, and joints in vertebrates and control arthritis susceptibility in mice and humans. His lab currently uses a combination of genetic and genomic approaches to identify the detailed molecular mechanisms that control evolutionary change in vertebrates, with a focus on five fundamental questions: (1) Are new evolutionary traits controlled by countless genetic differences of small effect, or by some genetic changes with large effects? (2) What specific genes have changed to produce interesting evolutionary differences seen in nature? (3) What kinds of mutations have occurred in these genes (e.g., dominant or recessive, coding or regulatory, preexisting or de novo)? (4) How predictable is evolution? If you know how evolution has occurred in one species, is it possible to predict the types of genes and mutations that underlie similar traits in other species? (5) How has evolution produced the unique characteristics of humans? To answer these questions, Kingsley uses a variety of methods in mice, sticklebacks, and humans to study these questions. Kingsley is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has received the Edwin Conklin Medal in Developmental Biology and the Lucille P. Markey Scholar Fellowship in Biomedical Science. His articles appear in numerous journals including Cell, Nature and Science.